Happy Tail: A family adopts a special Cocker Spaniel

It frightened Jeanette Lymburner when she couldn’t awaken her newly adopted Cocker Spaniel, Bizzy. He didn’t wake up when he was called, and they often had to shake him to arouse him. “A few times, I was quietly afraid he had died in his sleep,” she says. It didn’t take long for the Lymburners to put two and two together and realize Bizzy was deaf.

Like so many people, the Lymburners of Lakeville, IN, had wanted to adopt another dog similar to their pet that had suddenly died because they had loved his temperament. They had begun to search on Petfinder and saw “Monkee,” a Cocker Spaniel listed by Heartland Small Animal Rescue Inc. in South Bend, IN. When they enquired, they learned they could meet him in person at an adoption event, so the whole family piled into their car and off they went.

“It was love at first sight,” Jeanette says, and they adopted him the same day.

Then a few days later, they realized he was deaf. The realization might have caused them some concern. How would they deal with a deaf dog? How would he respond to them? But they already loved him, so there was no question that they would adjust.

“He’s such a ‘busy’ boy, always nosing around the house, likely to make up for what he can’t hear,” Jeanette says. And his busy behavior led to his new name, Bizzy.

The adoption has worked out fine, and the Lymburners can feel special joy that they have found a loving and special companion who might have been overlooked had people been aware that he was deaf.